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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Who's Organic at the ZinEx Grand Tasting Saturday?

The annual event for Zinfandel lovers - Zinfandel Experience - kicks off this weekend in San Francisco. The biggest event - the Grand Tasting on Saturday afternoon - will take place at the modern, waterside Pier 27 (cruise terminal venue, on the Embarcadero at Sansome. The Grand Tasting on Saturday features 130 vintners pouring more than 500 wines. A farm to table dinner takes place tonight at One Market, followed by seminars and winemaker dinners on Friday. Wineries pouring at the Grand Tasting who have organically grown wines (almost all of which have scores above 90 points - in some cases 95 pt. scores from the likes of Robert Parker) include:

1. Producers who make 100% Organically Grown Wines

NAPA
• Grgich Hills - Croatian born Mike Grgich played the key role in tracing Zinfandel back to its Croatian origins. His family continues to make Zinfandel in Napa Valley from both new and old vines dating back nearly 100 years ago.

• Storybook Mountain

A Napa classic and one of the founders of ZAP, this northern Napa Valley winery's hillside estate on red volcanic soils perennially makes some of the best Zin in the state and was among the first to treat it as a fine wine.

Of all the old vine Zin vineyards in the great state of California, this one is the heart-stealingest of them all, if you ask me. From 18 inch vines, dry farmed, in sand at the foot of a mountain range east of LA separating Riverside County from the Central Valley above, this vineyard is overseen by the Galleano family, the most authentic living representatives of the region's Zinfandel heritage. Not to be missed.MENDOCINO• Dashe Cellars Enfant Terrible Zins from Heart Arrow and McFadden Vineyards are both fine examples of Zins from the lighter side of the spectrum, emphasizing food friendliness.NAPA

Julie Johnson of Tres Sabores with her2013 Zin vintage

RUTHERFORD

• Tres Sabores
Dry farmed, old vine estate Zin from one of the first organic estates in Napa and is located on the Rutherford bench. Julie Johnson does wonders in living among and preserving one of the last old vine, dry farmed Zin vineyards in this precious valley, where so many vineyards have been converted to Cabernet.

SONOMA

DRY CREEK
• Quivira

Acclaimed for its estate grown Zinfandel, a third of its estate is certified organic and Biodynamic. The wines from these vines include its Elusive Zin (bottle labeled Made with Organic Grapes), a Dry Creek beauty.

One of three classic California Zin producers (the others being Turley and Ravenswood/Bedrock) who fell in love with the old vines (ahead of the curve), Ridge has converted most of its 200 acres in Sonoma to organic certification. It's Geyserville and East Bench show off the best of the old (Geyserville is unlikely to be poured at a public event since it's a very limited production wine) and new. The Geyserville vines are from the 1880s. East Bench comes from younger plantings at the winery's Dry Creek estate.RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY

Jake Bilbro at the Zinex trade tasting Friday

• Limerick LaneRun by Jake Bilbro, this Russian River Valley estate boasts vines that are from as early as 1910. It's in year 3 of three year transition to organic certification. Estate wines only are organically farmed. Russian River Valley Zin is a little bit cooler climate compared to other Sonoma Zins.

SONOMA VALLEY• Jeff Cohn A Zin fanatic, Cohn's best Zin is from the certified Biodynamic Cassata Vineyard. He makes two from this Sonoma Valley site, nestled in a high bowl above the old Pagani vineyard.

SIERRA FOOTHILLS

Steve Milliaire, winemaker at the Zinex tradetasting Thursday

• Milliare Winery A few bottles left from 2012, when the acclaimed Clockspring Vineyard was still organic. (It's been sold since.) Made by Steve Milliare, a pro who's been the winemaker at nearby giant Ironstone Winery for decades. A classic Amador County Zin that has been a treasure (Double Golds for years). Get it before it's all gone.

CALIFORNIA - NAPA, SONOMA, PASO ROBLES

• Turley
Another of the producers to fall in love with old vine Zin early on, the Turley family has certified its organic farming on the estate vineyards it controls: Cedarman, Dragon, Fredericks Vineyard, Pesenti Vineyard, Rattlesnake Ridge, Turley Estate, Ueberroth Vineyard, and Vineyard 101. One of the premiere producers of fine Zinfandels in the world.

Again, why look for these producers? The vines they grow aren't pummeled with Roundup and glyphosate or dangerous fungicides (that kills bees and birds). Their workers aren't subjected to those chemicals and neither are these vineyards' neighbors and children. Consumers who drink these wines avoid chemical residues. And these wines are great! These producers go the extra step to take care of soil and groundwater...support them!

Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).